Paul Finebaum watched as Georgia won its first national title since 1980 last year, using an elite defense to steamroll opponents.

Well, it seems as though the Bulldogs haven’t missed a beat at all this year, as Georgia is 3-0 coming off a dominant 48-7 win at South Carolina on Saturday.

Stetson Bennett has the offense firing on all cylinders this year and the Dawgs are playing like a team that somehow doesn’t miss the 5 first-round picks it produced in the 2022 NFL Draft.

On “SportsCenter” on Sunday morning, Finebaum said Kirby Smart has built Georgia into a juggernaut like Nick Saban’s Alabama teams:

“In many ways, Georgia is the new Alabama,” he said. “Why is that so? Well, for obvious reasons. They look like the best Alabama teams that Nick Saban had back maybe a couple of years ago when Kirby Smart was defensive coordinator. I’m not ruling Alabama out, as they’re still a very good team, but they have holes. They have deficiencies.

“Georgia doesn’t. They look like the perfect team. They look like you went into a lab and put them together, and I realize it’s early. But they still beat Oregon. Oregon finally bounced back yesterday, and they went on the road to South Carolina. We all heard how difficult that was. Well, they were up 48-0 when South Carolina got a garbage touchdown. They’re not giving up any points, and that reminds me so much of Kirby Smart, the former defensive coordinator under Nick Saban.”

That’s high praise for Smart and his program. But, Saban has won 6 national titles at Alabama (and 7 overall), so Smart still has a long way to go to catch his former boss. Will title No. 2 come this year? We’ll find out as the 2022 season continues.